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6 Independent & Free Press, Tuesday,May 10, 2011 OPINION Numbers game Following a census (there one taking place this year) a federal election boundary commission looks into various ridings to recommend possible redistribution. That being the case, we hope the feds take a close look Halton Region. The average size of a riding in Canada is meant to be between 100,000 and 105,000 voters. The four ridings in the Region of Halton-- Wellington-Halton Hills, Oakville, Burlington and Halton-- don't come close to that average. The biggest offender is the riding of Halton, which has 130,026 voters. This sprawling riding encompasses the municipality of Milton, the area of Oakville north of Upper Middle Road and a portion of north Burlington. Wellington-Halton Hills has 82,215 voters, the Oakville riding has 84,466 voters and the Burlington riding has 91,058 voters. Besides its large number of voters, the Halton riding is physically large, encompassing all or parts of three municipalities separated by rural countryside. The size of the riding makes it a difficult one to represent. Growth is also an issue. The Halton riding, includes Milton and north Oakville-- the two areas responsible for most of the region's population growth. The geographical problems are even worse in Wellington-Halton Hills, a riding of more than 1,500 sq. km., which contains the townships of Centre Wellington, Guelph/Eramosa and Puslinch, the Town of Erin and the Town of Halton Hills. Riding redistribution takes time, so it would be best to start now to change the electoral map for the next federal election. One possible solution would be transferring the Oakville voters from the Halton riding and including them in a larger Oakville riding. The same could be done with Burlington. Removing the Wellington portion from Halton Hills and combining Halton Hills with the remaining Halton riding would give us three fairly even ridings, within the Region of Halton. It just makes sense. Contact us 905-873-0301 Publisher: Ken Nugent General manager: Steve Foreman (sforeman@independentfreepress.com) Retail advertising manager: Cindi Campbell (ccampbell@independentfreepress.com) Managing editor: John McGhie (jmcghie@independentfreepress.com) Distribution manager: Nancy Geissler (ngeissler@independentfreepress.com) Classifieds Kristie Pells (classified@independentfreepress.com) Accounting Rose Marie Gauthier Editorial Cynthia Gamble: News editor (cgamble@independentfreepress.com) Ted Brown: Photography (tbrown@independentfreepress.com) Lisa Tallyn: Staff writer (ltallyn@independentfreepress.com) Eamonn Maher: Staff writer/sports (emaher@independentfreepress.com) Letters policy Letters must include an address and daytime phone number. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 150 words and may be edited for content and/or length. Publication is not guaranteed. Email: jmcghie@independentfreepress.com Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 29, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1. Steve Nease Letters to the editor Liberals shoulder election loss blame Dear editor, Re: Media to blame for Tory victory (May 5 letter). In response to Rick Hall's sour grapes on the election, I must protest his comment "they worked the psychological of hate". Perhaps he has heard of the Toronto Star, Canada's biggest newspaper and the Liberals' best friend because not one negative word was written about the Liberals or their ridiculous platform but they sure slammed the Conservatives and even compared Prime Minister Harper to some of the worst humans in the last 100 years. No hate there. If one looks at who was running the parties, it was quite obvious the Liberals were not serious about winning or they would have elected a better, more informed leader rather than appointing someone who couldn't be bothered to even live in Canada for 30 years. Mr. Hall, you insult all voters who took the time to research and understand the issues, and those who are capable of making up their own mind based on this and that is why we now have a Conservative majority. The media are not to blame Mr. Hall, the Liberals are. Greg Thoms, Georgetown for themselves. Dallas Shewfelt, Acton MPP has short memory Dear editor, I raised my eyebrows when I read MPP Ted Arnott's (April 12) column about the provincial deficit, which he blames on Dalton McGuinty. Has he forgotten we have just had a severe recession and all our governments are suffering financially, including his Conservative friends in Ottawa? The last time his party controlled the provincial government we were promised lower taxes and even received a rebate cheque which seemed like a nice gesture. We were told this would be paid for by finding savings in government waste. We later found out these savings were found by laying off water and meat inspectors and nurses. They also secretly sold Hwy. 407 to balance the books and this deal could not be changed for 99 years. To cap it off, we were told the books were balanced and what did McGuinty find when he took over? A $5 billion deficit! To kill deficits you either have to collect more money or make severe service cuts. Ontario's largest expense is health care so be careful what you wish for. Nothing is free. J. M. Graham-Smith, Georgetown Perhaps the electorate got what it wanted? Dear editor; RE Media to blame for Tory victory (May 5 letter). Why can't it be that, when a government is elected in a democratic process, it was elected because it is the government Canadians want to represent them, not that Canadians are so stupid that we blindly follow the messages played to us. The same messages were used just as much by the opposing Liberal and NDP parties as was by the Conservatives. In fact, the messages I recall the most are, in fact, the messages of the opposing parties as seen on Youtube advertisements and during regular commercial breaks. I know I might sound crazy but maybe-- just maybe-- a Conservative majority was elected because it is what most of the Canadian voters chose. But be careful, that may promote the idea Canadian voters can think WEB POLL RESULTS (Go to www.independentfreepress.com) The Ontario Hockey Federation has announced it is banning bodychecking for most youth house and select leagues in Ontario. 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